Nabha Power Limited vs Punjab State Power Corporation Limited 2024 INSC 833 - Contract - Customs Act

Contract Law - The golden rule of interpretation is that the words of a contract should be construed in their grammatical and ordinary sense, except to the extent that some modification is necessary in order to avoid absurdity, inconsistency or repugnancy- Similarly, any invocation of the business efficacy test as canvassed would arise only if the terms of the contract are not explicit and clear. The business efficacy test cannot contradict any express term of the contract and is invoked only if by a plain and literal interpretation of the term in the agreement or the contract, it is not possible to achieve the result or the consequence intended by the parties acting as prudent businessmen. (Para 41)

Customs Act - Section 25- An exemption under the Customs Act to operate thereon there has to be a notification issued in the manner provided by the Customs Act and duly published in the official gazette- If a certain thing has to be done in a certain manner, it shall be done in that manner or not at all. (Para 51)

Legislation - Law - Certainty is the hallmark of law. It is one of its essential attributes. It is an integral component of the rule of law. (Para 58)

Jurisprudence- A right vests when all the facts have occurred which must by law occur in order for the person in question to have the right (see Salmond on Jurisprudence, Twelfth Edition P.J. Fitzgeral page 245). It is only when the right vests will there be a corelative duty on the other as far as nature of the right involved in the present case is concerned. (Para 59) - Lord Bingham of Cornhill in his locus classicus ‘The Rule of Law’ rightly identifies as one of the facets of rule of law, the following – “the law must be accessible and so far as possible intelligible, clear and predictable. (Para 61)